BSW on the environment and animal welfare

The BSW wants to redesign towns and municipalities so they cope better with heat and heavy rain. It also wants to protect the state's especially fertile black-earth soils from development.

Towns should get more green space and less concrete. That helps against heat and heavy rain. The BSW also wants to protect the very fertile soils in the state. New business parks should be built on poorer soils.

The plans include unsealing paved surfaces, green spaces, sponge-city concepts, retention basins, green facades, shaded areas and cooling features. The program argues that growing soil sealing worsens heat and heavy-rain problems. Businesses are to be located primarily on less fertile land, such as outwash plains or terminal moraine areas, where these can be sensibly developed. State development plans and land-use plans are to be revised accordingly.

The BSW wants to reforest damaged woodland and speed up the conversion to resilient mixed forests. The state forestry administration is to be preserved for the long term. Timber is to be promoted more strongly as a building material.

Many forests in the state are damaged. The BSW wants new trees planted there. Private forest owners should get money and advice. The state forestry service should stay. More wood should be used in building.

Funding is to be available according to need, and bureaucratic hurdles are to be lowered. Because forest conversion takes generations, the platform sees funding and advice for private forest owners as crucial. Water retention in forests, for example through rewetted peatlands, is meant to serve climate adaptation and fire protection. The BSW backs steps by the state government to preserve the state forest center and the state forestry enterprise. More timber construction is meant to boost regional value creation and climate protection.

The BSW wants to rewrite the state hunting and fishing laws and cut red tape in the process. The inclusion of the wolf in hunting law is to be adopted quickly at state level. The party intends to push back against additional bureaucracy from the EU.

The BSW wants to rewrite the laws on hunting and fishing. They should become simpler and more digital. The wolf should come under hunting law. Then hunting rules apply to it. The state should do this quickly.

The rewrite is to focus on less bureaucracy, digitalization, transparency, and updated organizational structures. A modernized hunting law is meant to help manage game populations and secure the regrowth of young trees. As soon as the federal government adds the wolf to the Federal Hunting Act, the state is to follow. The platform accuses the EU of expanding bureaucracy for businesses and state authorities.

The BSW wants to restore peatlands, floodplains, and waters and preserve protected areas such as the Harz National Park. Endangered species and pollinators are to be better protected, and animal cruelty prosecuted more consistently. According to the platform, restored peatlands also reduce flooding and store CO₂.

The BSW wants to protect animals and plants better. Peatlands and river floodplains should become natural again. This helps against floods. Protected areas like the Harz should stay safe. People who are cruel to animals should be punished more strictly.

Plans include linked habitats, more flowering areas, less light pollution, and reforestation with site-appropriate species in cooperation with associations. The platform names the Harz National Park and the Drömling, Middle Elbe, Southern Harz karst landscape, and Saale-Unstrut-Triasland areas. To clean up contaminated soil, it relies on plants that absorb toxic metals. School programs and mobile advisory teams for rural regions are to complement enforcement of environmental and animal welfare rules.

The BSW calls for a state program with binding measures against nitrate in groundwater. The platform names over-fertilization, intensive farming, and improperly stored organic matter as the main causes. The party sees water protection as a central public task.

In some areas there is too much nitrate in the groundwater. Nitrate comes mainly from fertilizer and manure. The BSW wants a state program against it. There should be firm rules for farming. The state should also check how much fertilizer is used.

According to the platform, nitrate limits are clearly exceeded in places such as the Börde and Jerichower Land regions. Plans include new hygiene rules for livestock farming, lower-protein feed, better manure storage, and growing legumes that bind nitrogen in the soil. Statewide monitoring of fertilizer use would be added. Training and funding for sustainably operating farms are to accompany the program.

The BSW wants a statewide water strategy to address drought and conflicts over water use. Drinking water and agriculture are to take precedence over industry. The platform cites falling groundwater levels and pollution from nitrate and legacy contamination.

The BSW wants a water plan for the whole state. Drinking water and farming should get water first. Industry comes after that. Rainwater should seep into the ground. The party says groundwater is running low.

The plan includes regional water reservoirs, restored floodplains, protected wetlands and regional water plans. Rainwater is to seep into the soil rather than be drained away, and towns are to follow the "sponge city" approach with unsealed surfaces and water retention. In farming, the BSW wants to support water-saving methods, humus building and drought-resistant crops. A state program called "Sauberes Grundwasser" (clean groundwater) is meant to reduce nitrate pollution. The Elbe-Saale-Unstrut project is to be reviewed for long-term ecological effects. The party also seeks a binding water partnership among four central German states.

The BSW wants to give rivers more room to flood by moving dikes back and restoring floodplains. According to the platform, engineered flood defenses alone are not enough. The party rejects new river barrages.

The BSW wants to give rivers more space. Dikes should stand farther from the river. Then floodwater can spread out. The party does not want new barrages. A barrage holds back the water in a river.

Existing flood defenses are to be modernized and adapted to changing climate conditions. Building law is to prevent new development zones in flood-prone areas. The platform argues that barrages block the ecological continuity of rivers and do not lastingly improve the water balance. Instead, the BSW wants to support small hydropower plants where flow speeds are suitable.

The BSW demands that the toxic sludge pit at Brüchau in the Altmark be fully excavated rather than merely capped. The company that caused the contamination, or its legal successor, is to pay. The party cites a state parliament resolution from June 2020.

There is a pit with toxic sludge in Brüchau. The BSW wants to empty the pit completely. Just covering it is not enough for the party. The company that caused the damage should pay. This is meant to keep groundwater clean.

In the platform's view, sealing the pit would only push the problem into the future. The parliament resolution (document 7/6177) is to be carried out: the contaminated material is to be removed and disposed of properly. The work is to follow the current state of science and technology. Public funds should not cover most of the cost.

The BSW wants better resources for animal shelters and veterinary offices and wants shelter dogs exempted from the dog tax. The list of dog breeds classed as dangerous is to be dropped and replaced by behavior-based assessment and a dog handler license. Through the Bundesrat, the state is to push for mandatory pet health insurance.

The BSW wants to give animal shelters more money. Dogs from shelters should not cost dog tax. The list of dangerous dog breeds should go. Instead, owners should get a dog handler license. Pets should get health insurance.

Funding for shelters is to be granted with less red tape. The insurance requirement would apply nationwide, with transition rules and a sliding scale for low-income owners. The platform considers the breed list scientifically untenable. Breeding that causes animals suffering is to be monitored more strictly and ended through back-breeding programs. For free-roaming cats, the BSW mentions a statewide neutering offer. Hardware stores would no longer be allowed to sell small animals, to prevent impulse purchases.

The BSW wants animal welfare rules in livestock farming enforced more strictly and checked more often. Slaughterhouses are to face more unannounced inspections, and long animal transports are to be approved less readily. Animal testing is to be cut to the minimum necessary.

The BSW wants to protect animals better. Officials should inspect slaughterhouses more often, also without warning. Long trips with animals should happen less often. Barns should offer more space. There should be fewer tests on animals.

Barn conversions that give animals more space are to be subsidized; painful procedures would be allowed only with anesthesia and should eventually become unnecessary. Slaughterhouses would have to use mandatory documentation systems, and video monitoring in sensitive areas would be made possible while respecting data protection and workers' rights. For animal transports, the platform calls for penalties for violations and backs a nationwide limit on transport times. The responsible agencies are to get more staff, better equipment and training. In animal testing, alternative methods are to take priority; in teaching, the BSW aims for a phase-out in the long run.

The BSW wants to ban animal performances in circuses through state law. In the party's view, keeping, transporting and using animals for entertainment is incompatible with species-appropriate care.

The BSW wants no more animals in circuses. The state should ban such shows. The party says animals suffer in circuses. They are stressed there and get sick.

The platform justifies the ban by arguing that circuses cannot meet animals' biological and social needs. Existing permit procedures are to be adjusted to match the ban. The BSW also wants to promote animal-free forms of entertainment.

The BSW wants to gradually make veterinary care a public responsibility. The state would run animal clinics across the region itself, and veterinarians could be employed in the public sector. The party cites economic pressure and heavy psychological strain in the profession.

The BSW wants to change how vet care works. The state should take over this job step by step. The state should run animal clinics itself. Vets should be able to work for the state. They would then get union-scale pay and fixed hours.

According to the platform, veterinary care in Saxony-Anhalt is structurally at risk, and burnout is unusually common in the profession. Staff are to be paid under collective agreements and have reliable working hours. The agencies are to receive additional personnel. The BSW expects this to reduce administrative and cost pressure on staff and to give animal owners accessible care.